An associate pastor at a Cottage Grove church told police he took “innocent” photographs of children in the congregation and used computer software to turn them into hundreds of pornographic images, according to criminal charges filed Friday.
The Rev. William Leonard Helker, 47, was charged with six felony counts of possessing child pornography. Investigators reported the images and video included children who appeared to range in age from younger than 5 to 10 years old. Helker told authorities he had thousands of images of child porn on his laptop and cellphone.
Helker, who lives in Pine City north of the Twin Cities, is charged in Pine County District Court. He had a first appearance in court Friday and is being held at the Pine County jail.
An attorney for Helker could not be reached immediately for comment.
All Saints Lutheran Church staff have declined to discuss Helker’s arrest, but the ELCA church posted a message on its website saying he was placed on administrative leave.
According to the criminal complaint:
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force began investigating Helker after it received reports of two suspects using Facebook and Instagram to exchange child porn. Three specific reports cited in the complaint involved girls who appeared to be under the ages of 10, 6 and 5 involved in sex acts.
Helker was identified by Facebook as one of the users; he listed an All Saints account among his email addresses connected to his Facebook profile.
Authorities executed administrative subpoenas to determine the social media accesses occurred at All Saints and at Helker’s home. BCA agents executed a search warrant at Helker’s house Wednesday. He was home at the time.
Agents allegedly found a file on his laptop containing 120 gigabytes of data, the majority of which appeared to be pornographic images and videos involving children. Men appear in some of the videos, including one involving a nude male wearing a clown mask and tennis shoes.
Forensic examiners told the BCA that some images appeared to have been taken by Helker. He told a BCA agent that he took “innocent images” of children who attend or are members of All Saints at different events. He then used Photoshop to create pornographic work for his sexual gratification. Those children were known to Helker and were minors at the time the photos were taken, the complaint says. He also admitted to placing a photo of a child’s head onto an adult in a pornographic image.
The case also involves the alleged sharing of child pornography between Helker and a man in Finland. Helker allegedly had asked the man to trade images of preteen and teen girls. The BCA learned from U.S. Homeland Security officials that the man in Finland was arrested earlier this week. Two juveniles were identified as criminal sexual conduct victims who matched images sent to Helker.
Helker was arrested and booked into jail Wednesday.
All Saints has referred questions to the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but noted on its website: “We are concerned and ask prayers for all affected and will cooperate fully with law enforcement. We are committed to providing safe spaces for all children and youth at All Saints and in the community.”